1959–60 Four Hills Tournament

The eighth edition of the annual Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria was influenced by the German flag controversy, which lead to the teams of the Warsaw pact zone withdraw from the tournament. In addition, Finland and Norway decided not to compete due to preparations for the upcoming 1960 Winter Olympics. Finland ultimately sent perspective athletes.

Four Hills Tournament
VenuesSchattenbergschanze, Große Olympiaschanze, Bergiselschanze, Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze
LocationGermany, Austria
Dates30 December 1959 (1959-12-30) – 6 January 1960 (1960-01-06)
Competitors46 from 8 nations
Medalists
  Max Bolkart
  Albin Plank
  Otto Leodolter

The tournament was instead dominated by the host country and for the first time, the Four Hills were won by a West German ski jumper, Max Bolkart.

German Flag Controversy

For ten years after its declared independence, the German Democratic Republic continued to use the German tricolour for official use. In October 1959, they finally adapted a distinctive flag, the East German coat of arms in front of the tricolour. The Four Hills tournament starting in December 1959 was one of the first sporting events on West German ground where East German athletes were supposed to compete under the new flag.

However, it was prohibited to display the new East German flag under West German law and the hosts refused to do so in Oberstdorf. The strong East German delegation including defending champion Helmut Recknagel refused to compete under the circumstances and withdrew. Teams of countries that accepted East Germany as a sovereign nation and thus their flag, withdrew in solidarity (Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Soviet Union). Originally, it was announced that they would compete at the two events in Austria.

Austria, however, did not yet have diplomatic relations with the GDR and it was left to the local government to deal with the situation. Innsbruck mayor Alois Lugger decided not to display the East German flag, either. Although he offered compromises, such as the use of the Olympic German flag or using no flags at all, the Warsaw pact teams declared their withdrawal on the day of the Innsbruck event and left the day after. [1]

Participating nations and athletes

Many notable absences include the teams from East Germany, the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Norway and the top athletes from Finland.

A French team, however, competed at the Four Hills for the first time.

NationNumber of AthletesAthletes
 Germany13Hermann Anwander, Helmut Böck, Max Bolkart, Rudi Duffke, Alois Haberstock, Wolfgang Happle, Heini Ihle, Helmut Kurz, Georg Thoma, Helmut Wegscheider, Hubert Witting, Heinrich Zapf, Axel Zerlaut
 Austria14Willi Egger, Klaus Fichtner, Walter Habersatter, Waldemar Heigenhauser, Willi Köstinger, Ernst Kröll, Lois Leodolter, Otto Leodolter, Peter Müller, Albin Plank, Baldur Preiml, Rudi Schweinberger, Walter Steinegger, Ferdl Wallner
Canada3Jacques Charland, Gerry Gravelle, Luis Moser
 Finland2Timo Kavelä, Markku Maatela
 France2Claude Jean-Prost, Robert Rey
 Sweden4Lars-Åke Bergseije, Holger Karlsson, Inger Lindquist, Folke Mikaelsson
  Switzerland3Andreas Däscher, Ueli Scheidegger, Peter Wenger
 Yugoslavia5Božo Jemc, Jože Langus, Miro Oman, Marjan Pečar, Jože Šlibar

Results

Oberstdorf

Schattenbergschanze, Oberstdorf
30 December 1959[2]

RankNamePoints
1 Max Bolkart220.5
2 Albin Plank219.5
3 Helmut Kurz219.0
4 Willi Egger217.0
Holger Karlsson217.0
6 Hermann Anwander215.5
7 Walter Habersatter214.5
8 Otto Leodolter212.5
9 Folke Mikaelsson212.0
Georg Thoma212.0

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Große Olympiaschanze, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
01 January 1960[3]

With his ninth place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Jacques Charland became the first non-European with a Top-Ten-finish at a Four Hills event.

RankNamePoints
1 Max Bolkart216.9
2 Timo Kivelä216.5
3 Jože Šlibar212.7
4 Inger Lindquist212.6
5 Georg Thoma212.5
6 Božo Jemc212.1
7 Albin Plank211.2
8 Markku Maatela210.8
9 Jacques Charland210.4
10 Willi Egger209.8

Innsbruck

Bergiselschanze, Innsbruck
03 January 1960[4]

Thanks to close results so far, the overall ranking was still closely contested after the first two events. In Innsbruck however, Max Bolkart increased his lead to almost twenty points after a third, clearer victory.

Curiously, three out of four Swedish competitors shared the 21st place, equal on points (198.5).

RankNamePoints
1 Max Bolkart229.5
2 Otto Leodolter225.5
3 Albin Plank216.5
4 Folke Mikaelsson215.5
5 Georg Thoma214.5
6 Timo Kivelä213.0
7 Willi Egger212.0
8 Božo Jemc211.5
Walter Steinegger211.5
10 Markku Maatela211.0

Bischofshofen

Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze, Bischofshofen
06 January 1959[5]

Max Bolkart was the third athlete within seven years to win the first three events but fail to achieve the 'Grand Slam' in Bischofshofen. He still became the first West German to win the tournament however, as Albin Plank almost, but not quite closed the gap in the overall ranking.

The Austrians achieved their first triple victory, a feat that only the Finnish had produced so far (twice in 1954-55).

RankNamePoints
1 Albin Plank227.5
2 Otto Leodolter224.7
3 Willi Egger221.7
4 Helmut Kurz216.0
5 Max Bolkart211.1
Jacques Charland211.1
7 Walter Steinegger210.8
8 Wolfgang Happle209.8
9 Jože Šlibar208.9
10 Timo Kivelä204.3

Final Ranking
RankNameOberstdorfGarmisch-PartenkirchenInnsbruckBischofshofenPoints
1 Max Bolkart1st1st1st5th878.0
2 Albin Plank2nd7th3rd1st874.7
3 Otto Leodolter8th11th2nd2nd870.6
4 Willi Egger4th10th7th3rd860.5
5 Helmut Kurz3rd12th14th4th849.0
6 Timo Kivelä11th2nd6th10th845.3
7 Georg Thoma9th5th5th14th839.2
8 Walter Steinegger23rd14th8th7th826.8
9 Hermann Anwander6th20th15th11th825.7
10 Wolfgang Happle19th27th17th8th808.7

References
  1. "Flaggenstreit beim Innsbrucker Skispringen" (in German). Arbeiter-Zeitung. 1960.
  2. "Oberstdorf (GER)". FIS.
  3. "Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER)". FIS.
  4. "Innsbruck (AUT)". FIS.
  5. "Bischofshofen (AUT)". FIS.
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